Like anybody else, Marcus Eliiott was left befuddled with Damian Chongqui’s decision to leave Macau behind right in the middle of their eventual defeat to Terrafirma in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup Saturday.
“If he felt like that’s what he needed to do, then, hey, I respect it. But other than that, I mean… I don’t think I’ve seen that happen before,” he told members of the press on the heels of their 102-84 loss at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Easily one of the Black Knights’ best players stormed out of the venue shortly after being subbed out in the third quarter without any explanation, leaving many confused as the game was tightly contested at the time.
His sudden exit, furthermore, left the already depleted guest team even more shorthanded, prompting the coaches to use their seldom-used talents.
Without one of their top guns, Macau would lose grip of the match, with the Dyip pulling away in the final period to keep their quarterfinal hopes alive.
Chongqui–who reportedly has been nursing an ankle injury for a few games already–left the match with only eight points on nine attempts, a rebound, and seven assists to his name in the 25 minutes and 17 seconds he played.
“I don’t know. I looked up and saw he was a little upset. I’m not sure what that was about,” said Elliott when asked what exactly happened with his guard.
The former ABL Most Valuable Player turned mentor did say that he didn’t see any conflict whatsoever that occurred, which could’ve prompted the walkout.
“Nah, there wasn’t. One thing I will say is I noticed that our energy was a little different in the first quarter,” he said as his men got off to a flat start.
“I don’t know if you could go back and watch the replays of the timeouts and me talking to the guys, like, ‘What’s up with y’all energy?’ I could sense something like that. But as far as knowing exactly what’s going on, nah,” he added.
(C) PBA Images
While some questions remain unanswered, Elliott chose to give credit to his remaining players for continuing to fight despite their manpower woes—an issue that has plagued them throughout the conference.
“We’ve been dealing with this lineup issue for, like, the past four to five games. It’s nothing in-house right now that we can explain; it’s just a bunch of personnel issues. I don’t know how the management is gonna be handling it,” he said.
“So we just gotta continue to work, stay focused. But I was happy for the guys that were able to finish the game out, get them some reps, get their confidence going, keep their morale high, and just keep working with what we got.”
And whatever happens next, Elliott and the Black Knights only want to finish their campaign with a win against the Phoenix Fuel Masters on May 6.
“Imma try to win, we’re trying to win,” he said. “But also, if the management wants to say, ‘Hey, let’s give the locals a shot,’ hopefully we can win with our locals. Our imports and our Heritage Players are a real big part of our team.
“And, we’ll see what lineups we get that will stay here. We got one game left. My message today was for them to finish strong. Finish strong with a good attitude, good body language, keep finishing, keep fighting, and just get back to work.”
After all, it’s going to be Macau’s final hurrah in its maiden PBA campaign, and their sights are set not only on finishing strong but to give the team, especially the local and homegrown talents, something to charge to experience.
“‘Cause losses are gonna happen. If we’re winning every game, or we’re about to make the playoffs, everybody’s mood is a little different,” he said.
“But the thing about losing is you gotta take your losses like a man. You gotta take your wins gracefully, and take your losses gracefully.”
